


Wanda and Tony Give the Best Presents

by elizziebeth13



Category: Captain America (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Birthday Presents, Canon Divergence - Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Conversations, Fluff, Gen, Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Reunions, everyone is happy guys, pure friendship, the tags spoil the fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-04
Updated: 2016-08-04
Packaged: 2018-07-29 05:28:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,209
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7671907
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elizziebeth13/pseuds/elizziebeth13
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's Steve's birthday, and Tony is convinced that he got the best present.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Wanda and Tony Give the Best Presents

**Author's Note:**

> This takes place post Winter Soldier and disregards the canon of Civil War.

“So what is the best present you have ever been given?” Sam asked the room. Everybody was sitting around Tony’s living room, a little bit bruised from their last fight, but overall, aright. They had finally gotten a break from the fighting, paperwork and meetings, so of course they decided to sit around with beer and take out. There were empty bottles and takeout containers from 5 different restaurants littering the coffee table.

Tony looked around the room, and decided to speak first, “Well normally, I am not a fan of this mushy stuff, but the gift capsicle gave me for Christmas last year was by far my favorite. It was after quite a few extravagant gifts, and he gave me this small box in plain red paper.”

Steve smiles and interrupts, “Oh I remember that.”

“Of course you do, it was last year,” Tony continued, with a playful roll of his eyes, “as I was going to say before I was interrupted, it was a pocket watch that my father had gotten at the tail end of world war two, interestingly enough also from the captain, but he had owned it for years up to meeting my mom. It had a photo of them together in the lid. I never saw it when I was a kid, but I am glad I have it now.” He grinned at the entire room.

“Wait, cap?” Sam asked when Tony finished, “Is that the other thing you stole from the Smithsonian when you stole the costume?”

“I am not at liberty to say, seeing as that would be admitting to a crime,” Steve said, with an obvious wink towards Natasha and Sam. Vision and Wanda looked at each other with confusion before Wanda shrugged and looked back at Steve.

“I’m not gonna lie, I kind of like it more now that I know you stole it,” Tony admitted. Tony turned to his right, where Clint was sitting, “so how about you, robin hood?”

Clint blinked at Tony before shaking his head and looking at the rest of the group, “So this was when I was first picked up by S.H.I.E.L.D. before I met any of you, including Natasha.”

“Wait. You existed before I met you?” Natasha joked.

“Surprisingly, yes.” Clint responded quickly, “So I was the head of a small team of ten people, and I had just gotten these decent hearing aids. Overall it was fun.” He paused for a second, “there was this one girl, Mallory who knew some sign language, it wasn’t perfect but it was nice to be able to talk to somebody in a way I was more comfortable with… So anyways, a year goes by, and I am still somehow their leader. I walk in in the morning and say hello to everybody, they respond in both speech and sign, so at first I don’t really notice. It takes me two hours to realize, but when this one kid, Pete comes over and ask me if I want coffee in sign, it hits me. Mallory got everybody to learn sign language for me. It meant a lot. The Stark hearing aids were a good second, but that could never be beat.”

Wanda smiled at Clint, “That is such a sweet story.”     

“Yeah I loved those kids. I think a few of them actually still work for what is left of S.H.I.E.L.D. So how about you Tash. Best gift ever?”

“I was hoping you would get to me later,” she chuckled, and put down her fried rice, “Um… I think my best gift was from Pepper, well technically it was from all of you, but she put it together. She gave me a first addition of one of my favorite books, but inside were photos and little notes form you guys, and a bunch of people I’ve met over the years, stapled to the pages. There were different flowers pressed in the pages, and drawings in the margins, definitely by Steve and Tony. It was nice.”

Steve laughed, “I always wondered why Pepper asked me to draw in a book.”

“Same here,” Tony agreed.

Natasha snorted, “you two are ridiculous, Sam you are up next,”

He swallowed whatever happened to be in his mouth and started, “Ok so my best present was when I was overseas in 2010. It was my birthday, and since we were in Afghanistan, I wasn’t really expecting much. I walk into the mess hall and everybody is there yelling Happy birthday. That itself was awesome. But then I go up to my wingman, Riley, and for a little background, he is really good with computers. He pulls me over to this set up of computers and it turns out that he got my whole family and all of my stateside friends to have this big party with us over the internet.”

“I wish we had that when I was overseas,” Steve mumbled.

“Yeah and I bet you also wanted modern medicine when you were overseas,” Rhodey commented as he stood up to get another beer from the fridge.

“Yeah well, at least we were really well dressed,” Steve said with an eyebrow raised, “Rhodey, you’re up.”

“The Iron patriot suit,” he said matter of factly, “I always wanted to be like superman when I was a kid.”

Tony grinned at the fact that it was a gift from him. The group looked at Vision next.

“I have been alive for 6 weeks, I have never had a birthday, or celebrated a holiday that warranted gift giving.”

Everybody sat in silence looking at each other before Clint burst out laughing. Slowly everybody else followed the suit. “Don’t sweat it,” Clint said, “you will end up getting something sooner or later. I think it is your turn Wanda.”

“When Piatro and I were eight, our parents gave us each a bicycle. Mine was red and his was blue. We used to ride them around everywhere. We explored our entire city on those.” She looked of wistfully and almost sadly.         

Steve took the opportunity to try to make her feel better, “I happen to have a red motorcycle. It’s not the same but if you want I could teach you how to ride it some time.”

She smiled at him and said, “maybe.”

Steve looked around the room noticing that he was the only one left who had not shared. “So I guess it is my turn. Mine was in the 1940’s. I was like 5, and from where Bucky and I lived, you could see the fireworks from the roof of our building.”

“Why were there fireworks?” Wanda asked.

“It was the fourth of July, so they always did a huge celebration, but it was too hard and expensive for Bucky and me to get there.”

“Wait,” Rhodey interrupted, “You mean to tell me that your birthday is independence day?”

“Yeah,” Steve laughed, “that is just a coincidence, not the reason they chose me, at least I think.” He looked contemplative for a second before launching back into his story, “Buck and I were on the roof of the building and he told me that the fireworks were just for my birthday. I believed him. So for like a week I genuinely believed that Bucky somehow got the entire city to celebrate my birthday.”

Vision suddenly spoke up, “Captain Rogers, your birthday is in 10 days.”

“Yup,” he punctuated his response by taking a dumpling out of one of the take out containers on the coffee table.  

Rhodey looked at Steve before saying “I need to get you something.”

“You really don’t have to,” Steve insisted.

“You got me something for my birthday, which is surprising because we had only met like twice before that point.”

“It doesn’t matter if you get him something or not,” Tony interjected, “Because I am winning his birthday anyways.”

“Winning his birthday?” Wanda asked.

“I don’t understand,” Vision added.

Steve piped up, “Could you explain?”

Tony rolled his eyes, “Dear god there are three of them now. Winning somebody else’s birthday means you got them the best gift. Usually it is you or Pepper considering how good of gift givers you seem to be.”

Steve smiled, pointing the neck of his beer at tony, “A trait I pride myself on.”

“Good for you,” Tony said with a wave of his hand, “Anyways I am going to win this year.”

“Excuse me,” Wanda said loudly, “You should be saying that we are going to win, I did as much as you did for that present.”

“Oi! You can’t win on a joint present”

“Clint,” Natasha said patting his shoulder, “Steve and Pepper won your birthday together, last year.”

“I do love that catwalk,” Clint mumbled.

“So you and Wanda got me the best gift?”

“Oh yes Steve,” tony said clapping his hands together, “You’re gonna love it.” Wanda nodded in agreement.

“You better not hype it up too much, it’ll ruin your chances.”

“There is no way we could over hype this, Steve.”

 

* * *

 

 

As Steve’s birthday got closer all of his friends Started to get more secretive about their actions. Clint would bring unmarked paper bags to his floor in the tower. Sam was always deleting his internet history. Tony was making secretive phone calls regularly. It made Steve feel great. He wasn’t used to this many people making such a big deal about his birthday. He loved his group of friends.

Tony kept telling everybody that his, and Wanda’s, present was the best, but of course, refused to tell anybody what it was. Wanda was a little more reserved when it came to talking about it, but everybody could tell that she was quite proud of it when it came up.

Steve’s birthday was in less than 24 hours, so it was time for Tony’s plan to be put into action. Throughout the day he had been placing phone calls and organizing transportation, and equipment. Wanda was working with the person that tony needed for this to work. IF it all went according to plan, this two months’ worth of work would not only be the best present that Steve had ever gotten, but something good for the whole team.

It was finally Steve’s birthday and he was not allowed on the roof. He was standing in the stairwell being blocked by Tony. He wasn’t even able to use the elevator. Every time he tried Friday’s voice said. “I am sorry Captain Rogers, but I can not allow you access to the roof.” He figured that it had something to do with his birthday, but at this point the only reason that he wanted to get up there was that he had kept being told he wasn’t allowed.

“But Tony…”

“No buts Rogers! All of your presents are up there and I can’t risk you seeing what we have planned for the party. I especially can’t risk you finding out what your gift is before it’s time.”

“What is it some new stark tech bike or something that can’t be wrapped like a normal present?”

“No… But that is a great idea. Are you ok with knowing what your Christmas present is?”

“Sure Tony.” Steve said voice filled with exasperation.

“But you are right. It can’t really be wrapped.”

As Steve was about to turn and go, Wanda burst through the door holding a garment bag and a giant cardboard box. She and Tony made, slightly panicked, eye contact, before she smiled at Steve and sprinted up the steps.

“Just go watch TV or go for a run, or something, Rogers. You only have 5 hours to kill.” Tony pushed him out the door then followed Wanda up the stairs to the roof.

Steve sighed and paced around the tower before finding Sam who was sitting on the couch watching cartoons. “Yo Steve. Just started the first episode. I’ll restart it.”

Steve sat down next to Sam looking at all of the bright colors and exiting movements flashing across the screen as Sam started to rewind. “Is this a kids show?”

“Yeah, it’s actually like ten years old, but it is my niece’s favorite and she got me hooked last time I went to visit. Friday got me every episode.”

Steve watched along before noticing a specific character, “Is he a cyborg?”

“Yeah he is very cool, although my personal favorite is his best friend, that little green guy. He can turn into animals.”

“Really? That is pretty impressive.”

10 episodes and an entire delivery pizza later, the rest of the team and Pepper had surrounded the couch that Steve and Sam were sitting on.

Pepper wrapped Steve into a tight hug while saying “Happy Birthday!!”

“Capsicle, You ready to go up to the roof?”

The elevator ride to the roof had never been this long. When it opened, Steve saw a huge picnic table covered in enough barbeque food to feed an entire party. American flag themed decorations covered the roof. Tony patted Steve on the shoulder, “We figured classic Americana would be a good theme.”

“It’s great. Thank you.”

“No problem old man, now let’s eat.”

Everybody sat around the picnic table, with Steve at the head. Pepper had somehow gotten him to wear a tacky cardboard crown that said “Birthday Boy” in metallic rainbow print. They laughed at Rhodey and Sam’s awful jokes and told stories of past birthdays. As the dinner went on, the sky slowly got darker.

“So captain how old are you this year?” Rhodey asked grabbing bringing out the cake, “I need to know how many candles to use.”

“96,” Steve said with an ear to ear grin.

“You look good for somebody old enough to be my grandfather,” Natasha commented.

“Don’t I know it,” Steve responded with a wink.

Rhodey returned with a cake so covered in candles it was difficult to see the frosting.

“I didn’t expect you to actually use 96 candles!”

“I am committed Rogers,” Rhodey laughed, “by the way if you want your wish to come true you still have to blow them all out in one breath.”

They sang to Steve, and even with his increased lung capacity, he failed to blow out all of the candles. He sighed overdramatically and jokingly lamented about how his wish would never come true, before blowing out the rest. As they cut the cake and passed out pieces, Wanda ran down stairs, returning with a person wearing a baseball cap and an oversized hoodie, even though it was definitely too hot for such an outfit.

Tony grinned when he saw the man in the hoodie and said, “Now it’s time for the real party!” Steve looked at Tony questioningly.

As the man in the hoodie passed by the table he said, “this is all for you kid, happy birthday,” in a gravelly voice. Steve turned to his retreating figure before what he said really registered in Steve’s mind. Steve immediately knew what was coming. The man in the hoodie walked over to the other side of the roof, and took out a lighter.

The first firework was purple and it lit up the roof briefly. One after the other the fireworks lit up the sky. One of them even looked like Steve’s shield. Everybody on the roof hooted and hollered as they started to become more frequent. Steve really couldn’t have wished for a better party. The finale was spectacular. After almost half an hour of bright colors and impressive shapes, the sky was lit up with what seemed like far too many fireworks to be safe.

The smoke dissipated and the ringing in Steve’s ears finally stopped. “Thank you,” he said looking at Wanda and Tony, “That was incredible.”

Natasha perked up and exclaimed “Present time!”

Pepper, Rhodey, Clint, and Natasha ran to the side of the roof, opposite of where the man in the hoodie was cleaning up the fireworks. Sam, Vision, Tony, and Wanda stayed at the table. Steve assumed that they had gifts small enough to keep at the table without him noticing. 

They all ran back holding boxes and bags and sat in their seats.

Sam, who was sitting to Steve’s right said, “Alright, me first.” He pulled out a small box with wrapping paper that had the same characters as the cartoon that they were watching earlier on it.

Steve Laughed taking the presents. He peeled off the paper to reveal a new Ipod.

Sam spoke again, “It has all of the best, and most popular music from the last 70 years.”

“This is amazing. Thank you Sam!”

“Me next!” Natasha said giving Steve a large, but light box, covered in red tissue.

Steve ripped off the tissue to reveal movie passes in a giant popcorn bucket. “These are great! Who’s up for movies next time we have a day off?” Everybody grinned at that.

Steve received a new motorcycle helmet that looked like his World War two helmet from Rhodey, a homemade film that summarized the last 70 years from Vision, sketch pads and colored pencils from Clint, and a set of a 4 vintage ties, and 4 pairs of cufflinks from Pepper.

“Thank you guys so much,” Steve said with a genuine smile. Everybody started to shuffle to get the plates and utensils together, and the man in the hoodie, that he was now taking off (it was like 95 degrees out, he should have never worn it), was walking away from his station near the fireworks, most likely going to leave.

“Wait a second!” Clint shouted over the clatter of plastic ware, “Tony where is your winning gift?”

“It was the fireworks. Wasn’t it?” Steve asked looking at Tony.

“No,” Sam cut in, before tony could answer, “We all knew about that. It was Pepper’s idea.”

Steve shrugged, not really caring about gifts, as Natasha “You oversold it didn’t you?”

Somebody was standing behind Steve, but he was too focused on trying to convey that Natasha and Clint were being rude, without speaking, to pay attention to who it was. The person behind Steve spoke up, “I personally think that they did a great job.”

Steve would recognize that voice anywhere. He whipped around so quickly that he hurt his neck a little bit. Everybody else at the table followed his gaze. Shock registered on every face, save for Tony and Wanda.

Standing next to Steve’s chair was Bucky Barnes wearing a baseball cap over his shoulder length hair, and holding a black hoodie in his arm. His grin was as wide as the ones he wore when he was still a kid in Brooklyn. Steve stood up and engulfed Bucky in an extremely constricting hug. He pressed his face into Bucky’s shoulder and whispered, “I missed you so much.”

Bucky smiled, “Aw, I missed you too Stevie.”

Steve pulled away from the hug gripping Bucky’s shoulders, “Do you remember much.”

“Yeah,” He nodded, “Turns out her freaky mind powers are super helpful when your brain is soup.”

Steve turned to Wanda and Tony, “you…?”

“Yup!” Bucky answered for them. That is when Steve noticed what was written on Bucky’s white t-shirt.

**To: Steve**

**From: Tony and Wanda**

 


End file.
